The following relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically to variable length reference signaling for fast acquisition in shared spectrum.
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, (e.g., a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, or a New Radio (NR) system). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations or access network nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).
A base station and UE may exchange various messages during a cell acquisition procedure to establish a communication link. In some cases, a base station may utilize beamformed transmissions during a cell acquisition procedure to mitigate path losses (e.g., if the base station is communicating at higher frequencies). A UE that includes multiple antennas may receive transmissions from a base station using various antenna configurations to determine a transmission beam and antenna configuration suitable for future communications. The process of selecting the antenna configuration and transmission beam may involve multiple iterations of reference signal transmissions (e.g., discovery reference signals (DRSs)) from the base station. In some cases, however, these reference signal transmissions may be relatively infrequent. Thus, each DRS cycle that passes without the UE and base station having established a suitable transmission beam and antenna configuration increases the delay associated with cell acquisition, potentially resulting in an inefficient use of resources (e.g., time, power) and a reduced system throughput.